RE: [xmca] Subtleties of Presentation Media

From: Mary van der Riet (VanDerRiet@ukzn.ac.za)
Date: Mon Feb 19 2007 - 00:19:04 PST


Hi all
Teaching Psychology in a South African university has made us have to
think critically about this. Many students cant afford textbooks, and
struggle to keep up with the discursive or narrative process in
lectures. As lecturers we are inundated by requests to make our 'notes'
available. Students do not see the Powerpoint presentations (or
'overheads' as some of our lecture venues are technologically still
dependent on overhead projectors) as 'a version' of the subject of the
lecture, they see it as the 'truth' or the 'best' version. In exams we
then get verbatim (with original spelling errors!), what was presented
on the slides.
In addition to this, if students know that the PP slides as notes are
going to be available, then they dont attend the lectures. So, we have
adopted a Departmental policy to not hand out these 'notes'.
The unusual case is that of a few blind students to whom we make these
'notes' available). These students have, remarkably always achieved
above 80% whether they have notes or are just listening in the lecture
period.
Mary

Mary van der Riet; School of Psychology; University of KwaZulu-Natal
Private Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209

email: vanderriet@ukzn.ac.za
tel: 033 260 6163; fax: 033 2605809

>>> "Peg Griffin" <Peg.Griffin@worldnet.att.net> 2007/02/18 11:46 PM
>>>
Langston Hughes is an example you have in mind, Tony Whitson?
Peg Griffin

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
On
Behalf Of Tony Whitson
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 10:11 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: RE: [xmca] Subtleties of Presentation Media

David, I agree that the idea of copyright is relevant, but also
possibly
misleading insofar as we in the US have become accustomed to thinking
of
copyright as a protection for intellectual property as an economic
asset.
That's not the only (or perhaps even the original) function of
copyright,
which also serves the function of protecting the INTEGRITY of
expression,
including such things as your concern to preserve the signification of

authorship within specific discourse.

Two things:

1. an example in use: I think you have a digitized copy of the slides
from
Etienne Wenger's presentation to the Research on Math Ed SIG at AERA
last
time we were in San Diego. Notice the copyright in the bottom corner of

each slide. Acrobat provides security settings to allow protection of
the
integrity of the complete document.

2. another example with links on licensing options: See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CurriculumConcept.svg

If you go down to the links that explain licensing, the links lead to
an
array of possibilities, which provide ways to preserve integrity
without
restricting circulation.

I will prepare a different post on Presentation Media per se. I'm doing

relatively mindless scanning now while listening to the US Senate Floor

debate. So far the one speech that rose above the usual, IMHO, is one
by
Carl Levin demolishing the argument that debate in the US Senate
"emboldens our enemies" and "demoralizes our troops."

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007, David H Kirshner wrote:

>
>
>
>
> Michael,
> I think what links your musings about connectivity to my PowerPoint
story
> is the shift from representational media to presentational media.
The
> PowerPoint medium is obviously presentational. But what's subtly
changing
> is the gradual drift of other media from representational to
> presentational. For instance, what could be more representational
than a
> picture, except that with new technologies these static
representations
can
> be enjoined by the original creator, or by subsequent participants
to
> become something else. The key, of course, is digitalization. The
analog
> medium of pictures is static. The digitalization of the picture
enables it
> to participate in subsequent performance, hence it loses it's place
in
> time, and with that it's originary vectors, such as its owner.
> David
>
>
>
>
>
> "Michael Glassman"
> <MGlassman who-is-at ehe.ohio To: "eXtended
Mind,
Culture, Activity"
> -state.edu>
<xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Sent by: cc: (bcc: David
H
Kirshner/dkirsh/LSU)
> xmca-bounces who-is-at weber. Subject: RE: [xmca]
Subtleties of Presentation Media
> ucsd.edu
>
>
> 02/16/2007 05:17 PM
> Please respond to
> "eXtended Mind,
> Culture, Activity"
>
>
>
>
>
>
> David,
>
> What an interesting story. I have been doing some reading and
thinking on
> connectivity lately and have come to the conclusion that three
little
> letters - www - are going to change our universe in ways that we
can't
> imagine. One of the ways I believe it is going to change things is
by
> changing the concept of boundaries, and the notion that ideas can
somehow
> can be treated as property. That's right - I think there is a real
> possibility that intellectual property will become a thing of the
past.
Is
> this a good thing or a bad thing. It's hard to say, but I think it
is
> coming. Industries that live on intellectual property rights - like
> recording, publishing, entertainment - are fighting like mad, but I'm
not
> sure they will be able to do anything to stop the wave.
>
> So getting back to your particular scenario. What would have been
the
> difference if the TA found your Power Point presentation on the
internet,
> and downloaded it, or better yet hyperlinked it (so many of my
students
> bring their portables to class - and at Cornell my nephew had to buy
one
as
> a freshman). And then some of those students thought there was
something
> interesting and hyperlinked it to some people they know. Unless you
had a
> trackback function, you wouldn't even know where it was going or who
was
> using it. People would change it, people would add to it, people
would
> desecrate it. But every person using the idea would be equal because
what
> was important were the ideas that you created and they took on a life
of
> their own. Perhaps the slides would come back to you in a form you
didn't
> even recognize. But it wouldn't matter because you connected with
all of
> these people - your ideas became viral rather than remaining
hierarchical.
> The only thing that creates boundaries on the ideas is rationality.
Of
> cours there may be a really dark side to this whole phenomenon,
there
> always is. But like I said, I'm thinkng we need to redefine our
ideas of
> boundaries and ownership.
>
> Michael
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu on behalf of David H Kirshner
> Sent: Fri 2/16/2007 11:07 AM
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: [xmca] Subtleties of Presentation Media
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> A few days ago I gave a PowerPoint presentation of my research to
our
> department. After the presentation, a graduate teaching assistant in
the
> department whom I've known for a number of years asked me if he could
have
> a copy of the presentation so that he could follow-up with one of
his
> classes (some of his students also were at the presentation). I
immediately
> agreed, but after some debate with myself, I decided to give him hard
copy
> of the slides instead. The medium of PowerPoint would erode the
boundaries
> between him and me.
>
> Here's a snippet from my note to him. I wonder if this phenomenon has
been
> observed/discussed before in the media literature.
> Comments welcome.
>
> David Kirshner
> _______________________________________________
>
> Hi xxxx,
>
> I've copied out all of my slides (about 50), and left them in your
mailbox.
> I'd intended to send you the PowerPoint presentation itself, but in
the
end
> felt uncomfortable about doing that.
> It's an interesting media phenomenon. If I give you photocopies of
the
> slides and you distribute them for discussion to your students, it's
very
> clear what are the boundaries between my contribution, and yours.
The
> slides are mine, the discussion is yours. However, the PowerPoint
medium
is
> inherently incomplete. If you present my slides as a PowerPoint
> presentation, it no longer is possible to clearly demarcate our
boundaries.
> That's because the in the PowerPoint setting, the slides are
inseparable
> from the commentary. Thus it's not possible to distinguish what part
of
the
> commentary is you and what part is me.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
>
> (See attached file: winmail.dat)
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
>

Tony Whitson
UD School of Education
NEWARK DE 19716

twhitson@udel.edu
_______________________________

"those who fail to reread
  are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
                   -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca

_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca

Please find our Email Disclaimer here: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/disclaimer/
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 01 2007 - 10:36:50 PST